Since combining her medical and artistic interests, Sarika has exhibited her work at a number of venues around New South Wales and Papua New Guinea.
RAW Artist Event Newcastle, Great Northen Hotel - ‘Left of Centre Stage’ (April)
The RAW: natural born artists is an independent arts organization, for artists, by artists. It is an international community made up of creative individuals across the globes. Events function as a launching pad for independent artists in the first 10 years of their career to provide them with the tools, resources and exposure needed to inspire and cultivate creativity. Artist showcases are exhibited in a number of international cities including Sydney, New York and London. In 2015, Newcastle launched its second RAW event in which Sarika’s work was selected for display from a number of other applicants. Have a look at the RAW website for more details about the event http://www.rawartists.org/newcastle/photography and click on the link below to see Sarika’s interview.
National Gallery of Papua New Guinea - subset of ‘Without Rose Coloured Glasses’ (November)
The National Gallery of Papua New Guinea purchased a sub-set of Sarika’s first solo exhibition to be included in their permanent collection. Curators felt her images were symbolic of the growing support for female social empowerment that had been developing throughout PNG in the last decade. Many women in PNG continue to suffer poor health outcomes resulting from inadequate access to reproductive health. Sarika’s images are the first official documentation of changing social attitudes around women’s health in PNG and the National Gallery hopes to use her work as a tool to provide ongoing awareness and education about issues central to improving health access for women in all areas of PNG.
Queen Street Gallery, Woollahra Sydney - ‘Without Rose Coloured Glasses’ (September)
‘Without Rose Coloured Glasses’ was Sarika’s first solo exhibition in Sydney detailing experiences from her volunteer work with women and children in India, Burma and Papua New Guinea. Her images sample the raw energy and compassion of the people and moments she encountered on her travels. The exhibition was an outstanding success with over $9000 raised from exhibition sales to support public health campaigns by Rotary International, Vision Beyond Aus and the Duncan Emmanuel Hospital in Raxaul, India. The entire collection can now be viewed online. Selected images are for sale as indicated and all proceeds will be donated to the nominated charities in support of programs aimed at improving health equity and access.
Queen Street Gallery, Woollahra Sydney - ‘Touching Our Land’ (June)
Sarika exhibited images from her time on the Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea as part of a group exhibition curated by Kate Hopkinson Pointer. Her expedition was an additional effort to understand the workings of rural and remote communities in the highland regions in order to help plan better healthcare delivery models for these communities.
Art About Sydney (July)
Sarika’s keen eye for photography helped her capture some iconic scenes from her personal travels in country NSW. ‘Always Ready’ an image depicting two range dogs poised patiently atop a tractor was submitted to the local event ‘Art About Sydney’ which focused on promoting archetypical images about Australian Life. ‘Always Ready’ made it through to the semi-final round of this competition and the image was displayed on popular Tourism Australia websites.
Art Gallery of New South Wales - Art Express ‘Travelling the Eastern Distributor’
Sarika’s artistic interests were cultivated early in childhood and progressed through her high school years where she focused on mixed media works. ‘Traveling the Eastern Distributor’ was her HSC artwork in 2004 which was a mixed media piece central to the theme of shifting cultural identities. The artwork was selected for display in ‘Art Express’ and toured through major galleries around NSW, including an extended display at the National Gallery of NSW in Sydney. Explore this link to find out more about this work.
Venue details for 'The Other Art Fair' will be published on announcement.